Town guarded secret well

JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST Staff writer

Published 1:00 am, Sunday, March 25, 2007

COLONIE -- On Feb. 16, the day after she returned home from vacation, town Supervisor Mary Brizzell found a message that would lead to the biggest sort-of secret in her two decades of public service.

The message was from a location manager for "Extreme Makeover," a reality television show she had never watched. Brizzell, who had not planned to work that Friday, headed toward the office.

Project 424, as it was called around Colonie's municipal corridors, began with a bounty of discretion and an eye on a looming deadline.

While whispers that television crews might soon be heading toward the area would eventually wind through the community like the nearby Lisha Kill, town officials were among the few to also know the who and where.

Secrecy was at a premium. If word got out and the surprise were ruined, the television crews might walk away, officials were told.

It would soon turn out that dozens, maybe hundreds -- from subcontractors to contributors of building materials -- knew something was in the works. But few apparently realized that so many others were also in the loop and nobody wanted to be the one to blow the whistle.

Town officials began discussing the plans only on a need-to-know basis, and referring to them only by their number: 424.

"Nobody would use 'Extreme Makeover: Colonie Edition,' " Town Attorney Arnis Zilgme recalled with a laugh. "They asked for confidentiality, which we provided to the extent that we could."

All this led to Thursday morning, when, just after 10 a.m., the cast of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" ambushed the Oatman family outside their sagging ranch at 23 Fairway Lane.

Bob Cordell was not there. Instead, the town's chief commercial building inspector was finalizing the demolition and building permits needed to make the project happen.

"Very, very few people knew," Cordell said dutifully of the early stages of the planning. "We did a pretty good job, I guess."

While the town had weeks to review the plans to ensure they conformed to zoning and building codes, the formal permit applications were not submitted until just days before, Brizzell said.

The project avoided public scrutiny by hewing to existing zoning and planning laws, eliminating the need for public hearings before either the zoning or planning boards, town officials said.

But Cordell stressed the project was not rushed and received a higher level of review than most. In some ways, such as its full fire-sprinkler system, the design goes beyond the requirements of existing building code, he said.

Even the state Department of Environmental Conservation was consulted to ensure the work would not damage nearby wetlands, but it was determined no permits were needed, according to an agency spokeswoman.

Within the last two weeks, an emissary from the construction company approached several of the region's chambers of commerce, asking their help in enlisting and organizing the army of volunteers needed to complete the project by Wednesday.

Schramm said she learned Tuesday evening the plans were final, but neither she nor the others were told who the family was or what town they lived in.

The Schenectady chamber sent out vague overtures to members, telling them something worthwhile was in the works: Stay tuned and keep your calendars open is how Robin Granger, the chamber's vice president for communications and member relations, characterized it.

But eventually, there would be signs, of course, that something big and unusual was in the works in Colonie's western end. For starters, town workers began removing the coating of snow dumped by the St. Patrick's Day storm from the municipal golf course.

The course, across Consaul Road from Fairway Lane, is not scheduled to open until April, but construction crews needed it as a staging area. The secret was getting out.

"Somebody would tell me they heard it at the firehouse, or a friend of somebody they work with goes to the same church as this family and they knew all about it," Brizzell said.

Neighbors had been notified to expect street closures. Gawkers cruised the neighborhood. On Wednesday, two of the show's on-air talent were reportedly spotted entering a Wolf Road tanning salon.